1/28-I moved into apartment #275 at Montecito Apartments. I have NEVER had any bed bug or pest issues beforehand. I lived at my prior residence for 2½ years and never had any bites. I have confirmed with my previous landlord that there were no bedbugs when I moved out and the new tenants moved in.

2/18-I start noticing very itchy bites randomly on my body. Since I own a dog, I thought it might be fleas. This is strange because I am a responsible pet owner and my dog

has been on flea treatment the entire 4 years that I have owned her and I have never had a flea problem. I think maybe the previous tenants had fleas and the apartment unit was never treated because it is obvious that the carpet in my unit has never been replaced because of the stains in the living room (which I noted on the Move-In Inventory sheet). I bathed my dog, cleaned my house, and sprayed for fleas. The bites continued.

3/7-A cluster of bites appear in a line on my lower back. They had only been appearing on my arms at this point. I ask the guy I am dating if he is getting bit. He says yes. I clean my apartment again and change my sheets thinking it might just be an allergen. After about 5 more days of this, I decide it HAS to be bed bugs and contact the office.

3/12-Woke up with 6 new bites. I call the front office of Montecito Apartments. No one answers. I leave a very detailed message explaining that I think I have bed bugs. No one calls me back that day.

3/13-Woke up with 4 new bites. No one from Montecito’s office has contacted me.

3/14-Woke up with 2 new bites. Two days later, I finally get a call back from the front office. (In that time, one adult female could potentially have laid 15 new eggs). They say they will send an exterminator out tomorrow to verify whether or not I have bed bugs. They ask me more than once if I have bought any used furniture recently. I have not. I have owned my mattress and box springs since 2002. I have owned my couch since 2007. I have owned my armchair since the 70’s. I do not buy things frequently. I did not bring these pests into the apartment. Not only that, they started biting me multiple times within a few weeks. I contacted ABC Pest Control and Gillen Pest Control and both companies said that if I started getting bitten in multiple areas on my body within a month, chances are the infestation was already in the apartment when I moved in. Additionally, they said that since I signed a paper with my lease pertaining to bed bugs, that was a sure sign that there had been an infestation before. This makes me upset because when I was signing my lease, I inquired as to why there was a bed bug page included, I was told: “We just got new management and this is how they do their leases.” I believe I was misled and I think I should have been informed that there was a possible infestation. Not only that, when I moved into my apartment, they didn’t even put in new carpet because there were stains still on the floor that were obviously from a previous tenant. I think it is negligent of Montecito to not take every precaution necessary to prevent the spread of these pests which is most certainly a public health issue. If there was an infestation, surely it was in the carpet and new carpet should have been put down. No excuses. I have never moved into a new place that didn’t change out the carpet between tenants.

3/15-Woke up with 3 new bites. They are now attacking all over, not just arms anymore. Now my legs and feet are being targeted as well. I have started sleeping with the light on. I know this won’t deter them, but it comforts me. The exterminator comes out. Doesn’t see any bed bugs, but recommends treatment based on what I’ve told him. I contact the front office and they schedule a treatment for March 22, 2011. In that time period, one adult female could lay 35 new eggs.

3/16-Woke up with 6 new bites.

3/17-Woke up with 4 new bites. I can no longer sleep through the night. I have started waking up around 4 a.m. and not being able to go back to sleep. I think I feel them all over me, but when I look there is nothing.

3/19-Starting to have creepy bug nightmares. I jerk away multiple times throughout the night thinking I feel bugs crawling into my nose or ears and all over my scalp.

3/22-My health is starting to suffer. I cannot concentrate at work from lack of sleep and spend my lunch period napping on the floor in my office. It’s the only time I feel I can sleep without being bit.

3/26-Apartment is FINALLY treated for bed bugs, 14 days after I first reported it. In that time, one adult female bed bug could have laid 70 new eggs. Spent $86 on a bed bug protector for my mattress. I throw my box springs away in the dumpster. I also get rid of approximate 3 trashbags full of clothing and all of my linens except two sets of sheets. Additionally, I take EVERY SINGLE piece of clothing that I intend to keep to a Laundromat off-site and spend $60 washing and drying all my clothes in extremely hot temperatures.

3/27-I wake up with 2 new bites. Was told by the exterminator to expect activity for the next couple of weeks. If it continued after that, call him and he will come back out to do the follow-up treatment. Extensive research I have conducted on bed bugs proves that you usually cannot get rid of them with just one treatment. I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag.

3/28- I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag.

3/29-I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag.

3/30-Woke up with 1 bite. I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag.

3/31-I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag.

4/1-I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag.

4/4-Woke up with new bites on legs.

4/11-Woke up with several bites on my feet.

4/12-Called Montecito office to say that I am pretty sure I still have bed bugs and ask when the follow-up treat would be. They tell me they need to contact the manager, Sean and I will need to sign forms but they will call me back so that they can email me forms. They never call me back. After work, I go by the office. They have been “so busy” all day (I assume renting out units) to deal with my pest control/public health issue. Turns out, they also never scheduled a follow-up treatment. They only scheduled one treatment for the bed bugs. This is negligent. ANY exterminator will tell you that it is impossible to get rid of bedbugs in one treatment.

4/13-Faxed forms to Montecito, pest control scheduled for April 19, 2011.

4/15-Bite on arm.

4/18-Bite on wrist.

4/19-Second treatment for bed bugs. I once again have to remove ALL ITEMS from my apartment. Basically I have moved into this apartment 3 times in 3 months. At this point, I have done everything humanly possible for a tenant to do when irresponsible apartment manager rents out a unit infested with bedbugs without even changing the carpet.

4/20- One bite on forearm. I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag.

4/21- I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag

4/22- I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag

4/23- I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag

4/24- I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag

4/25- I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag

4/26- I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag

4/27- I vacuum my apartment and throw out the vacuum bag

After this second treatment, I receive a bill from Montecito claiming that I owe them money for pest control. Not only does Montecito violate its lease contract by failing to provide a safe, clean unit for me to live in, they take advantage of their tenants and make them pay for their irresponsible management of apartment homes.

At this point, I decide that it’s time for me to find a new home. I talk to Sean and he signs a form that allows me to break my lease for a “small” re-letting fee of $543. The fact that the management allows me to break a one-year lease with no questions asked confirms my suspicions that they are at fault for the bed bug infestation. My lease with Montecito ended on July 31, 2011.